Entertainment

'Gracepoint' Proves Small Towns Are Magnets for Mysterious Deaths

Detective Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn) is a woman trying to break the glass ceiling in a police force that's never had to investigate a murder, but Gracepoint’s pilot episode, which aired Thursday night on FOX, proves that ceiling to be shatterproof.

Miller returns from vacation expecting a promotion — the same day the body of her son’s 12-year-old best friend is found on the beach — but she's informed the job's already gone to Emmett Carver (played by David Tennant, who is beyond familiar with the role, having played it already in the U.K. version Broadchurch).

Gracepoint, potentially FOX’s biggest gamble this season, is based on the dark British crime series. And when I say based, I mean you’ll hear some of the same lines come out of the same characters' — nay, actors' — mouths! Although when our favorite Doctor Who played Carver before, it was with more of a British accent.

This isn't surprising. American networks have been swapping tea for coffee by sniping British shows for years (often without a title change), but these adaptions often have the space of several seasons to outgrow their roots. Gracepoint doesn’t have this luxury, since it's a miniseries in the same way Broadchurch was.

Before his surprising termination — though keen minds might connect these two events — former FOX Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly declared the end of pilot season. Instead, the network would choose shows and let them fully develop for several episodes.

Given that, Gracepoint should have the leisure to let its story unfold, rather than feeling the need to cram an entire plot arc into the pilot. So, putting aside its sibling from across the pond, the question is how Gracepoint uses it advantage. The answer, unfortunately, is that it doesn’t.

Anna Gunn in Fox's "Gracepoint."

Image: Ed Araquel/FOX

While the show definitely has the time — and the leisurely setting — to allow its characters room to breathe (and give actors room to act), poor Miller is in panic mode from the first moment another human speaks to her. Before she can put down her Virgin Mary-embroidered handbag, her boss yells those words so dreaded on sitcoms and dramas alike: “Ellie, my office!”

He does so to tell her the job went to Carver a week ago, not mentioning that the newly appointed, brash, raised-by-the-streets detective from “the city” is apparently celebrating by taking the week off from personal grooming. Someone get this man a Mach 3! And a book on etiquette!

So, while Miller is sitting pigeon-toed in a toilet stall, crying on a cell phone about the unfairness of it all, Carver is investigating the mysterious death of Danny, a 12-year-old boy who apparently fell from a cliff onto the beach. A forensics fellow assures us it was no suicide, prompting the question: Why does a town without crime have a highly equipped forensics guy on standby?

Don’t worry — Miller’ll make it to the crime scene, and you can bet she’ll yell and cry nonsensically! After all, this sort of thing doesn’t happen in Gracepoint, California. No, not in Gracepoint, a small, quaint town, populated almost entirely by white people.

They likely all moved there for the stunning views or perhaps the amenities, such as a daily newspaper or the fact that half the town’s events occur in slow-motion. Juvenile would be thrilled.

Most importantly, murder doesn’t happen here. This is a small town! The biggest crime here is the lack of creative business naming, proven by the coffee shop named Coffee Shop. Moms visit their married children to make breakfast, and local reporters cover children’s soccer games.

That doesn’t mean those reporters are satisfied with keeping stats on U9. Young gun Owen (Kevin Zegers) — no last name, which must infuriate his byline editor — gets hold of the story by watching Danny’s mother leave a stuffed animal on the beach.

He Tweets it in a special platform that allows far more than 140 characters, and Renee, a reporter in San Francisco (Jessica Lucas), takes the bait. Though her boss (who is black, proving that the city is where diversity lives), tells her, “I like your drive. Don’t waste it on this,” she literally drives up to Gracepoint. He’s sure going to be confused when she files that story!

So, who is the boy? We know very little, save for which years he had growth spurts and his athletic prowess, since emotional resonance comes in the form of tally markings on a doorframe (cut pitifully short) and a shelf of gold medals (presumably from those soccer games this town holds so dear!). And he’s well liked: A wise doctor tells the detectives, “You may be used to this, but we don’t get these around here. If you find this guy, lock him up for a long time.”

Maybe we’ll learn more in time, but for now, our victim is treated like exactly what he is: a catalyst for a story, not a person. And, as we know by now, it’s difficult to feel emotionally invested in a plot device.

Thus we’re off — an unlikely pair of cops striving to solve a murder while a couple of journalists seek the big scoop. For all the death and darkness on television these days, a murder series has to work hard to earn its keep. Gracepoint has all the components of a great show — a preset number of episodes for a story to unfold, fantastic actors, an intriguing setup — but it needs trust from its producers.

David Tennant in Fox's "Gracepoint."

Image: Ed Araquel/FOX

Gunn’s proven herself to be a wonderful actor. She shouldn’t be forced to cry hysterically for 60 minutes. And, yes, Tennant needs to be American, but does he need that weak accent? This is the West Coast! Diversity is welcome!

The small town (as a concept) is close to wearing out its welcome on the silver screen, and Gracepoint’s pilot isn’t convincing enough to ask it to stay for a nightcap. FOX’s commitment to its new batch of shows is fantastic, but I wish it had spent more time courting this one. It’s great to see a network want to do things differently, especially in a time when the “same old” has proven staler than a forgotten loaf of sourdough.

But that’s only half of the equation. Commit to something we haven’t seen before, and I’m not referring to the British version.

Because, as the final shot of a great whale’s tail reaching above the water — only for a fleeting moment, sort of like life, right! — fades from view, only one question is cycling through the audience’s mind: Sure, the view’s stunning, but can you see Twin Peaks, Washington, from here?

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